October 23, 2024, 12:44 pm | Read time: 6 minutes
Rebecca Barthel comes from competitive sports – bodybuilding, to be precise. She now works mainly as a personal trainer and has turned her back on the bodybuilding scene. She told FITBOOK fitness editor Janine Riedle why in an interview.
In 2015, Rebecca Barthel celebrated a great success in bodybuilding: she won both the German and the world championship title in the “Miss Hercules Olympia” fitness class. This took a lot of discipline and time-consuming training. Today, however, the athlete is one thing above all: a personal trainer whose passion is to make people fit with her knowledge and experience. As a coach for Aldi Sports, Barthel has also made it her mission to help other people achieve a better lifestyle. But how did the former bodybuilder come to work in the fitness sector? She answers these and more questions in an interview with FITBOOK.
Rebecca Barthel has always been sporty
FITBOOK: You have been working in the fitness sector for a long time. How did you get this passion, and how did it develop into your profession?
Rebecca Barthel: “I started doing sports in a club when I was four years old – traditionally in the sports hall with gymnastics, handball, later tennis and judo. I’ve always enjoyed sports. I originally wanted to become a professional handball player! But as you couldn’t earn much from it, I decided to go into the fitness industry when I was 19.
I started as a fitness trainer in a studio and then joined the IFAA, an academy that trains trainers worldwide. One of the things I learned there was how to turn my passion for sports into a career. Back then, I trained every day, sometimes twice a day. It was clear to me that I wanted to go straight into practice without a long course of study. I also knew that I wanted to work with lots of people and that I liked the stage. So I started teaching both individuals and groups – and I’ve been doing that for over 25 years now.”
Bodybuilding can pose health risks
You have also been involved in bodybuilding. Was it difficult for you to gain a foothold in this industry as a woman?
“I think it depends on the country. It’s quite common in the USA, but it’s still considered somewhat unconventional in my home country. My motivation was that I love competition and am always looking for new challenges. I knew that I loved strength training, especially the feeling of intensity when I move weights and realize how much strength I actually have in me.
That’s what got me into competitive strength training. I did it for a while and was successful, but it is extremely time-consuming and unfortunately not a lucrative sport in Germany. To really earn money with it and become a professional, you have to become even more extreme in your training and diet, which was simply too much for me from a health point of view. At a certain point, you have to decide whether you want to be a professional and take health risks. As a full-time competitive athlete, you have to dedicate yourself to it seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It was clear to me that I didn’t want to give up my profession. Besides, my health was more important to me than devoting myself to this extreme sport in the long term.”
Rebecca Barthel, you mentioned health concerns about bodybuilding. What exactly do you mean by that?
“An extremely strict diet, as is required in bodybuilding, is not healthy in the long term. If you leave out certain nutrients, the result is often a nutritional deficiency. It’s physically demanding to go from 4000 calories in the build-up phase to just 600 calories just before the competition. This doesn’t just work by eating broccoli and chicken breast. You also need to take supplements and train hard. You have to do a lot to be able to stand on stage for two or three minutes. I don’t mean to diminish it in any way. I’m super grateful and proud of my successes.
But there is often also social pressure. At some point I asked myself whether I really wanted to do this. I have a lot of respect for everyone who does this sport long-term, but it was clear to me that I wanted to focus on a healthier form of strength training.”
“Bodybuilding was a full-time job
Even though you have retired from professional bodybuilding over the years, there is one big success you can look back on: You won the world championship in 2015. What was that like for you and what exactly did the preparations look like?
“I’ve always been active in sports, so I wasn’t a novice. In October 2014, I started preparing for my first competition with a new athletics coach. Among other things, this meant following a strict nutrition plan for eight months. I first needed to reach a caloric surplus to build muscle mass – consuming about 4,000 calories a day across six to eight meals. On top of that, I did about 90 minutes of strength training five times a week and endurance training thirteen times a week. It was a full-time job: riding my bike on an empty stomach in the morning, then having breakfast and working through my appointments. Because I still gave personal training sessions, I did my housework and had other to-dos. Then, I went to competition training in the evening. So, of course, you have a fixed schedule every day, and there’s not much time in between.
My first competition was in England in May 2015, which I won – that was a great experience. This was followed by the German Championships, which I also won, and finally the World Championships in Italy, where I became world champion in the body fitness class. I ultimately decided not to pursue a professional career. I know that I have talent and fighting spirit and that I like to win. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place. But it was definitely the right decision.”
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“Both genders train intensively”
Rebecca Barthel, do you think there are differences in bodybuilding training between men and women?
“Basically, men have an advantage when it comes to building muscle due to their higher testosterone levels. They gain muscle mass much faster than women. However, the training itself is not very different. Both sexes train intensively, follow strict diets, and use nutritional supplements. In the professional sector, you also have to make health decisions. Ultimately, it’s about how much you’re willing to sacrifice. For me, it was clear that my health and my time for family and friends were more important.”